About us

New Era was set up in 1986 to support local unemployed residents into training and employment.

Since then we’ve helped hundreds of people into training and/or work, provided hundreds of children with high quality childcare experiences and supported childcare professionals by providing Safeguarding and Paediatric First Aid training to keep children across Lancashire safe.

Background

New Era Enterprises (E. Lancs) Ltd is a company limited by guarantee and trading as a single organisation without subsidiary or parent organisation. We were established in 1986 and although the company has undertaken work throughout Lancashire it works mainly in East Lancashire.

Our aim is to provide a service that supports the growth of skills and networks so that people are able to initiate and participate in their own, and their community’s development. This is achieved by working within a vision of equal opportunity and sustainability.

These aims are illustrated in the following extracts from the memorandum of association of the company:-

(a) To improve the lives of local people, primarily within communities which are economically and socially disadvantaged, through economic development, regeneration, community capacity building and personal development activities.

(b) To create employment opportunities and develop the workforce, encourage industrial and commercial activity, support co-operative and social enterprise; to provide advice, information and support services, education and training, consultancy and professional services; to carry out research; and to pursue any other activity in support of these objects.

(c) To promote mutual self-help within communities through local initiatives which empower people to meet their own personal and collective needs and participate more fully in their community; in the process, to develop the skills, self-confidence and employability of individuals, and the capacity of voluntary and community organisations.

New Era fulfills its aims by developing and running varied training, employment and community development projects funded through a mix of public sector funding and grant funding regimes.

The 21st Century ushered in a focus on training provision at New Era Enterprises and the organisation became an approved training centre, delivering accredited courses for Cache. New Era capitalised upon its support for the childcare workforce and began to offer accredited childcare courses and has since become a specialist provider of children & young people’s courses in East Lancashire.

Commitment to quality

New Era is committed to high standards of work throughout the organisation. This commitment is expressed in every aspect of New Era’s work, in practice and in writing, both internally through its practices and externally through its project work. The commitment is integral to New Era’s purposes, and is subject to self-evaluation in several ways. The exacting standards required by funding bodies in relation to outputs and financial reporting are also met.

New Era has been recognised as continuing to meet the requirements of the national standard for effective Investment in People and has been awarded the Matrix quality standard for information, advice and guidance services.

New Era actively responds to all the above evaluation, regularly reviewing its activities, policies and procedures. Recommendations for improvements are made, and the consequent changes are monitored, appraised and reviewed, to ensure they achieve the planned result.